The role of eHealth in achieving Universal Health Coverage within the

European Region

Clayton Hamilton, eHealth and InnovationWHO Regional Office for Europe

http://www.euro.who.int

"It seems that the stars are aligned. These glimmers of facts, figures, innovation and needs are converging on the year 2013. And the result promises to be an inflection point for digital health. The curve of innovation will shift and place us all on a new course for managing disease and wellness." (Forbes - Health Critical)

John Nosta, CCO Maven Communications, #1 Kred-ranked Social Media influencer in health

Predicting the future…

“In 2005, all WHO Member States made the commitment to achieve universal health coverage.The commitment was a collective expression of the belief that all people should have access to the health services they need without risk of financial ruin or impoverishment. Working towards universal health coverage is a powerful mechanism for achieving better health and well-being, and for promoting human development.”

World Health Report, Research for Universal Health Coverage, 2013

Why Universal Health Coverage?

Overview of the WHO European Region

53 Countries

900 million population

The WHO European region has a high diversity in terms of wealth distribution among its nations:• 33 countries are classified as High-income• 20 countries are classified as either Upper-

middle, Lower-middle or Low income

*World Bank, Gross National Income per capita index, 2013

Diversity of wealth within Europe

WHO’s key undertaking within eHealth in Europe is to provide independent advice and assistance to countries towards the long-term development of sustainable national eHealth solutions, in particular, in relation to strategic

health information gathering and analysis.

The role of WHO in eHealth in Europe

In Europe, WHO delivers on this mandate in 3 ways:• As a knowledge-broker and facilitator between nations

and the International Community at large. • By developing and sharing best practices and standards

precipitated from successful eHealth implementations.• By working directly with Ministries of Health to address

their technical and strategic needs for eHealth.

The role of WHO in eHealth

• An increasing cost of healthcare, decline in the number of healthcare workers and an increasingly mobile population is leading to a voracious appetite for “everything e”.

• Broadband penetration and mobile network usage is high with data costs rapidly declining for both.

• Concerted push for developing patient-centric healthcare systems and increasing measures for patient safety.

• A majority of countries are racing to implement or refine systems to manage Electronic Health Records.

• Health information is still (in general) extremely “siloed” and Integrated Health Information Systems are being sought.

The landscape of eHealth in Europe

• Ownership and governance of eHealth, developing and delivering on national eHealth strategies and managing the burden of ongoing system development and maintenance.

• Developing and adopting appropriate legislation to allow for eHealth.

• Ensuring security and privacy, identity management and ethical issues are addressed.

• Workforce issues: education, awareness and retraining.

• Acceptance of solutions by health professionals.

Common challenges observed in Europe

• There is an increasing push for accessibility to one’s own health data and for remote interaction with healthcare workers…

• …coupled with the exploding trends (and availability) of mHealth in all countries…

• eHealth is very clearly becoming the platform for accessibility to health services by populations – making it the #1 enabler for Universal Health Coverage. This represents a paradigm shift away from the rationale for eHealth in terms of cost reduction or efficiency gains.

The link: eHealth & Universal Health

• Increased focus on mHealth solutions, in particular for non-communicable disease treatment and prevention.

• Advent of gaming technology in mobile health-related applications.• Big (Health) Data to supplement (or replace) traditional data

reporting and analysis mechanisms.• Mainstreaming of Telehealth/Telecare solutions.• Leading standards for eHealth implementation will emerge and

methods of adoption will become clearer.• Health Internet governance issues will become more prominent,

but their resolution will be slow.

Predicting the future…